‘Corsage’, the 2022 Austrian film written and directed by Marie Kreutzer, is not just another entry in the “Sissi-mania” genre. True, the central figure is Empress Elisabeth (Sissi) of Austria-Hungary—Franz Joseph’s wife and a tragic figure who continues to fascinate and spark controversy to this day, nearly two centuries after her birth. During her lifetime, she was adored by some of her subjects (particularly by the Hungarians) yet gossiped about and scorned by many others. Posterity has treated her image more kindly, especially considering how she has been portrayed on screen over the years. Marie Kreutzer took on the character but approached her in a radically different way, imagining situations and facets of her life where the line between historical reality and fiction remains forever blurred. Through Sissi—masterfully portrayed by Vicky Krieps—the writer-director sought to, and succeeded in, revealing much not only about the Empress herself but also about the plight of women in her era and beyond, right up to the present day.
Turning forty is a difficult milestone for many women, particularly for those obsessed with their physical appearance and how they are perceived by others. This was certainly the case (as historical records confirm) for Sissi, who had become Franz Joseph’s consort at the age of just sixteen. She had borne three children, two of whom survived—with the boy, Rudolf, destined to become heir to the throne. Her remaining role was purely ceremonial, alongside a man whose flame of love had long since died out—if it had ever existed at all; yet Sissi, a beautiful and intelligent woman, neither wished to nor could accept such a fate. However, nothing was simple at a European imperial court in the second half of the 19th century, a place where ceremonies stifled emotions and social conventions crushed personal relationships. Sissi rebelled against these constraints in her own way: she sought to involve herself in her children’s education and in charitable work for the sick, traveled to the related royal courts of Great Britain and Bavaria, and took an interest in sports (fencing, horseback riding) and the latest technical inventions—including a form of cinema avant la lettre. Not all her endeavors succeeded; her eccentricities sometimes bordered on madness, excessive dieting and the corsets demanded by the fashion of the day endangered her health, and a heroin treatment prescribed by a court physician clouded her view of the world.
Drawing on a real historical figure and the issues surrounding her—much debated and documented at the time—Marie Kreutzer constructs an alternative portrait of an empress who was adored by some and gossiped about by all. It is, first and foremost, a portrait with a feminist statement, underscored by a finale that alters her well-known, tragic destiny. To highlight the plight of a woman constantly at odds with social pressures and the mores of her era, the Austrian writer-director presents an atmosphere featuring slight historical anachronisms—some fundamental, others merely in the details. This technique was also employed by Sofia Coppola when bringing to the screen the destiny of another Austrian princess-turned-queen: Marie Antoinette. The sequences filmed with an “archival” aesthetic would, of course, have been impossible using the technology available prior to the advent of cinema; yet, they offer a gateway to an inner reality—an alternative to the world the heroine longs to escape. If you watch or re-watch the film, have fun spotting these period inconsistencies. One example: wall-mounted telephones in the Imperial Palace in Vienna, appearing just a year after Graham Bell received his patent for the telephone.
Ironically, this very feminist film faced difficulties during its release and subsequent distribution due to separate allegations of sexual misconduct involving two of its male actors. Consequently, the film failed to reach its full potential audience or was judged by criteria entirely unrelated to the movie itself. Over time, however, I believe that ‘Corsage’ will transcend this disconnect—a mismatch with its own era that mirrors the protagonist’s own struggle. It deserves this, in my view, thanks to Marie Kreutzer‘s original vision and Vicky Krieps’s memorable performance; together, they deliver a screen portrayal of Sissi unlike any other.